Yuan-Xiang Pan

Yuan-Xiang Pan is a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with an affiliation in the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. His research focuses on the interplay between nutrition, epigenetics, and disease, particularly in the context of high-fat diets, maternal nutrition, and colorectal cancer. He has made significant contributions to understanding the role of gene expression, DNA methylation, and microRNA regulation in metabolic and inflammatory pathways.

Key research interests include:

• Epigenetic mechanisms influenced by dietary factors
• Colorectal cancer development in knockout mouse models
• Maternal diet effects on offspring health
• Microbiota dysbiosis and its clinical implications

His work has been recognized with the Norman Kretchmer Memorial Award (2012). Notable recent studies include investigations into L1CAM-mediated signaling in colonic tuft cells, dietary nutrient modulation of colon inflammation, and genome-wide analyses of miRNA roles in cancer therapy.